Little Lion Man
by Mikkal
Summary: The year when Kronos, not yet risen, uses Voldemort, a mere mortal pawn, to help him rise from Tartarus. Luke, not yet bearing the Curse of Achilles, is still a pawn of Kronos and a betrayer to the gods. Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia go to Hogwarts as students, unfortunately. Nico pops up every now and then. The Golden Trio is uneasy about these guests, especially this Percy bloke.AU
1. Chapter 1

Note: I'm a full-blown Percabeth shipper, but I just really enjoy writing Luke/Percy in the Harry Potter category. It's a guilty pleasure. So, yes, _**SLASH**_, this will be your only warning. It's not even in the summary (because there's no room).

Updated: August 2, 2013

* * *

Little Lion Man

Mikkal

* * *

_It was not your fault but mine_

_and it was your heart on the line._

_I really messed it up this this time._

_Didn't I, my dear?_

* * *

**1.**

It was not a normal occurrence. Greeks and Romans stayed in North America. The Wizarding World stayed in Europe. There was rarely a crossover unless you included Rome, Italy into the mix, which was the birthplace of the Roman aspects of gods.

Albus Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards of the age, stared intently into space, surrounded by familiar magic and Fawkes. This was quite a dilemma, he was not expecting Tom to make allies with such a foe—coming so close to breaking the ancient treaty between wizards and gods, but since this being wasn't a god there was no broken treaty.

He knew of which person to call for this sort of thing, but he was not very fond of the idea. But there was only so much Harry Potter could do. He had the power and protection to go against Tom when he was Voldemort, but he did not have the right power to go against _Kronos._

A Titan from the old mythologies, the king Titan who was the son of the earth and sky themselves. The father of Zeus and many other gods, the same father that ate his children because he feared their power.

No wizard could defeat a creature like that, especially not a teenager.

Albus pinched the bridge of his nose. He was never one to call help like this, but he could only think of one place to call—only one being he could call for answers to this.

Camp Half-Blood. Chiron.

* * *

**2.**

"This year," Dumbledore said mysteriously, spreading his arms wide as if to embrace the Great Hall. "We're going to open our doors a little differently this time."

Harry heard Hermione groan next to him and he glanced at her to see her rolling her eyes. "What?" He hissed.

"I'm having painful flashbacks," she said. "Of French women and Quidditch players."

Ah, the Triwizard Tournament. The event that happened last year and provided a shocking twist into this hell he called life. Voldemort came back to life and no one believed him except a few certain people.

"It won't be that bad," Ron assured, the tone of his voice made Harry think he was wondering what was wrong with the French women.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "With Umbridge here—." Ugh, Toad woman. "f—We do _not _need American's getting in the way, for all we know they're part of the Ministry's plan."

No one got a chance to answer because Dumbledore started speaking again, but Neville was nodding in agreement with Hermione.

"We are accepting three Americans into our school this year from a special school located in New York," Dumbledore said. "Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Thalia Grace," he announced.

The doors to the Great Hall opened and three teenagers walked in. They looked around fifteen—Harry's age—and strangely self-assured, their movements graceful in a way that made Harry a little jealous, their backs straight, and their shoulders squared.

"They will be sorted into Houses as First Years are," Dumbledore said over the whispering murmur that started at the beginning of his announcement and just grew louder when the three teenagers walked in. "Starting with Chase, Annabeth."

Harry ignored the whispers next to him and watched a very pretty blonde walk up the steps. Her hair in Muggle princess curls and in a high ponytail, and she wore Muggle cloths of jeans, trainers, and an orange shirt with a denim jacket. When she turned to flash her companions with an easy smile he saw startling gray eyes and a bead necklace with a ring on it.

She sat down primly on the stool and allowed the Sorting hat to be placed on her head with little

Before long it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Annabeth frowned but hopped off and headed to the table, sitting a few people down from the Golden Trio.

"Wow, she doesn't look very happy," Ron commented. "Where do you reckon she wanted to go? Ravenclaw?"

Hermione hummed a little. "She seems like a smart girl, probably."

"Grace, Thalia."

Thalia Grace scowled as she walked to the Sorting Hat. Her hair was black, short and spikey, and her eyes were a piercing blue. Like the colour of a clear sky. She wore dark jeans; black combat boots, and black shirt, and a leather jacket. Her ears were pierced multiple times and she had a bracelet on her wrist she kept fiddling with.

The hat didn't even touch her head before it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"I think the hat's been tampered with," Neville said as Thalia sat next to Annabeth, leaving the last American, had to be Percy Jackson, standing alone. "I bet you the Jackson bloke's going to be in Gryffindor too."

"What if they just have the traits for a lion?" Dean Thomas demanded. "I mean, we are the best house."

Hermione snorted. "I'm sorry," she said, not sounding sorry at all. "But I think you're bias."

The two American girls were talking quietly with each other, leaning close.

"Jackson, Percy."

The only boy of the group slumped his shoulders and stuffed a hand in a pocket, the other one fiddling with a pen, as he headed to the stool. His head was down so his wind-blown hair covered his face so Harry couldn't get a good look. He wore jeans and a orange shirt and trainers, a bed necklace like Annabeth except less beads and no ring.

He sat on the stool and let the hat shout, "GRYFFINDOR," one more time.

"Definitely tampered with," Neville repeated, but he grinned.

Percy shuffled over to sit across from Annabeth and Thalia. They all started whispering to each other, completely ignoring everyone else and Dumbledore when he began to speak again.

"Now that, that is taken care of," Dumbledore said. "Let the feast begin!"

He clapped his hands and food magically appeared. The Americans did nothing but blink.

"So, they look fifteen," Hermione said. "They're Fifth Years, have to be. I don't know why they're coming to Hogwarts, it's strange."

"Dumbledore has a good reason," Harry said. "He wouldn't just do something that wouldn't help in the long run. Minus the Toad, since she isn't exactly in his control."

"Percy stop," an unfamiliar voice said, laughter thick. "No, come on!"

Harry glanced over—as did most of the people within earshot—to see Percy trying to shove a piece of seafood in Annabeth's face.

"I'm not going to eat it," Percy said—his voice a little hoarse than expected. "So you take it."

"I'd take it if you hadn't shoved it in my face first," Annabeth pointed out. She snatched the fork out of his hand and threw it at Thalia, who caught it and, almost smugly, ate the food speared on it.

Now that Percy wasn't looking down Harry could see a lean and tan face, and breathtaking sea green eyes that matched the ocean on beautiful days. The only problem, though, was that they looked haunted and shadowed. Like something terrible had happened and he still couldn't believe it-like he didn't want to believe it.


	2. Chapter 2

Note: Luke will show up soon. Which leads me to my second out of three warnings. _**SLASH.**_ Your first warning was chapter one. Your second warning was this chapter. Your third and last warning will be the chapter Luke shows up in, which will be in two or three chapters (fingers crossed, hopefully). You have been warned. Also, I had someone mention the title made no sense, I chose it for a reason, so I put the section of inspiring lyrics up on the first chapter and will put them up on subsequent chapters.

* * *

Little Lion Man

Mikkal

* * *

_It was not your fault but mine_

_and it was your heart on the line._

_I really messed it up this this time._

_Didn't I, my dear?_

* * *

**3.**

When Chiron told them that there was news about Kronos and Luke a few weeks ago, Annabeth was first ecstatic and then dread gripped her tight. She glanced at Percy to see him gripping the edges of the table so tight his knuckles bleached white and his sea green eyes were stormy, staring at nothing.

Nico nudged him in the side, making Percy shake from the stupor he accidently sent himself in. The son of Poseidon shook his head and gestured for Chiron to continue.

Then the centaur went on to explain the Wizarding world and their struggles, letting them know of the treaty between them and the Greek gods. Their enemy making a deal with a Titan, not breaking the treaty, but getting himself pulled into a situation he couldn't possibly get out of.

Nico opted out of going, but Annabeth jumped at the chance. This would be directly tied to the war and give her a chance to speak to Luke instead of Percy. The Seaweed Brain was too broken to even think coherent thoughts when Luke spoke to him in little battles, let alone now.

Percy decided, finally, to go along too, and then suggested Thalia as the third. Two children of the Big Three going to the direct center of the war, plus Nico popping in every now and then, would be a good advantage.

So, Annabeth found herself in a Wizarding school with barely enough of_ their_ magic to qualify. Percy was strangely quiet as they were shown to the common rooms for their House.

"What's wrong?" She asked. They were at the back of the group—most of them First years—so they were safe enough to speak a little louder than whispers. "You're quiet."

He pressed his lips together and gave her a tight grin. "I'm just thinking of why Kronos would choose this Voldemort guy. He has the perfect pawn in Luke. It's bothering me. You don't think Luke's…" He trailed off.

Thalia shook her head. "Luke's too important," she said. "Kronos isn't going to lose him any time soon. At least, not by choice." She sounded hopeful.

Yes, Annabeth realized this possibly wasn't the greatest idea. Not the best strategy—way to go, and you call yourself a daughter of Athena? Sure, they had two children of the Big Three. Zeus and Poseidon, but all three of them had terribly close connections to one of the threats: Luke Castellan.

"My problem," Annabeth said, gazing at the wizards around them. "Is that we have minimal magic, just randomly appeared in our fifth year, and we still need to figure out how to keep our reflexes up." She sniffed, admittedly feeling a little haughty. At this point she couldn't help it, she'd read the first year through fourth yearbooks. They were…disappointing, to say the least. She'd met Hecate children who did more than that on their first go. "We can't just go breaking the rules."

"We can't?" Percy asked mischievously. Annabeth rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. "_Ow. _Okay, okay, fine," he muttered, sending her a half-hearted glare. "If you're gonna be like that. We'll just get new rules. We'll ask Dumbledore about it tomorrow. Happy?"

"Ecstatic," Annabeth said with a bright, overly-happy smile.

Thalia choked on a laugh and covered her mouth as not to be too loud, only a few wizards glanced at them before the three of them faded back into their peripherals. Annabeth grinned; you just had to love the Mist. Especially when Thalia had been practicing since Westover/Bianca/Nico. A little retrieval thing with Grover than exploded into something much more.

Annabeth absently twirled the lock of gray hair around her finger; she had it from holding up the sky. Percy had an identical one. They weren't very noticeable except if you already knew they were there or if the light caught it at the right angle—convenient for keeping suspicious and judgmental mortals off their backs.

"We need to make friends with Harry Potter and company," Annabeth reminded them. "After all. Kronos is manipulating _his _archenemy. We need to get close. According to Dumbledore, Voldemort and Harry are linked someway, Harry sometimes knows what's going on in his head."

"Like me and Grover," Percy muttered. "But more creepy. Awesome."

They came up to a beautiful painting with a fat lady on it. And when she said fat lady she actually meant Fat Lady, there was even a little engraving at the top of the frame. It took her a few tried to read it, in that time the password was said after being prompted ("Lions' Pride" as if _that _wasn't obvious) and she realized she never looked around during their walk.

That brief chance to get a glimpse of magical architecture that was completely separate from Olympus and she missed it!

Well, there was always tomorrow. And the day after that, and then the day after that. She wondered how much time she was going to get to go exploring. It could be very useful for the war.

Or so she told herself to justify it.

* * *

**4.**

The first day of classes was always annoying, Harry thought. They were basically just overviews of what the year was going to be (in most cases) or bullying to make sure you were still stupid and didn't get smarter over the summer (Snape) or tests to see if you learned anything from your books (generally McGonagall).

Harry was looking forward to this fist day, though, and that was mostly due to the three Americans that popped out of nowhere and joined Fifth year. They were the hot topic for everyone. Most of them had stayed up late discussing them as the three went to bed almost as soon as they were shown their beds.

Hermione came up with hundreds of theories, but none of them made sense. She finally agreed that there wasn't enough information to actually come up with anything that would be close to even remotely true.

"Ugh," Ron grumbled. "We've got Potions first with the snakes then Defense with the toad. This is going to be such a bloody brilliant morning, isn't it?"

Hermione sniffed. "If you'd pay attention then Snape wouldn't be so hard on you," she said.

"But you pay attention all the time and do things perfectly and he still hates you," Ron exclaimed. "That man just has a wand up his—."

"Ronald!" Hermione scolded, folding up her parchment and shoving it in her bag. "I'm going to ask the Americans if they would like to walk with us, so they don't get lost."

Harry watched her make it half way to the trio (who were having a conversation among themselves that he couldn't understand, like they were speaking a different language) before he sighed and got up as well to hurry after her.

He got close enough in time to hear Annabeth mutter "Hufflepuff" to Percy before they all clamped their mouths shut and stared at the two of them. Ron groan behind then and decided to followed, probably bringing some of his breakfast with him.

"We have Potions first," Hermione told them. Thalia and Percy glanced at each other, surprised. Did they not read the schedules? "I was wondering if you'd like to walk with us, since you don't know where the classroom is?"

Thalia snorted. "I think I'd find it. Annabeth too." She poked Percy in the side. "It's this Seaweed Brain who would probably get lost."

Percy scowled and smacked her hand away. "Shut it, Pinecone Face. Not everybody gets to have expert tracking classes everyday."

Annabeth rolled her eyes fondly. "They get like this all the time," she assured them. "They're cousins," she added, as if that explained everything.

Harry wasn't sure what being cousins had to do with scowling at each other and teasing each other. They looked friendly enough with each other, Harry certainly did not act like that with Dudley.

Annabeth budged Percy's shoulder then stood up, pulling her bag on her shoulder. "Thank you," she said to Hermione. "We could use some help. Hogwarts is a little more complicated than I expected."

Percy, ignoring Annabeth's signal to stop (Hermione did the same thing to Ron sometimes) dipped his fingers in his drink and flicked the liquid at Thalia. She poked him hard in the shoulder, making him yelp slightly. Thalia huffed a laugh and muttered, "_beat that_."

The two of them finally stopped messing around and gathered their things to follow the Golden Trio.

"So, who teaches Potions?" Percy asked causally, flipping a pen between his fingers.

"Snape," Harry answered. "Didn't you read the schedule?"

He shrugged. "Parts of it. Annabeth probably read it all." He grimaced. "Reading isn't my strong point, unfortunately." He jerked a thumb at the other two. "Isn't theirs either, but Annabeth is more willing to suffer through it than me and Thalia."

Harry frowned. "You guys have dyslexia?" He'd never met a wizard with dyslexia before. Now he sort of wondered if wizards even _got _dyslexia.

Well, obviously they did, or else these three Americans wouldn't have it.

"Yeah," Percy said, nodding. "It's a pain, but whatever. Can't control it. Can't fix it." He smirked, as if he was laughing at his own joke. He ran a hand through his hair. "Is Snape a good teacher?"

"He's okay," Ron piped up. "He's an okay teacher, a terrible person though. Even if you do brilliantly he'll give you a bad score just because you're not one of his precious Slytherins."

Thalia groaned. "_Great. _Just what I was hoping for, to make everything so much harder."

"It won't be that bad," Annabeth protested. "Just don't talk back like you guys normally do."

Harry and his friends snorted (though Hermione got politeness points for trying to cover her amusement with a hand).

"Not going to work," Ron said. "Snape it just that horrible."

They arrived at the Potions classroom at a decent time; they were five minutes early (he was going to blame Hermione for that, though it was nice not to be late for Potions for once). The six of them chose seat near the back on the side Gryffindors sat on most of the time.

He and Ron paired up. Hermione asked Annabeth if she wanted to pair up, the American glanced at Percy and Thalia before agreeing. So that meant Percy and Thalia paired up.

"They're going to blow something up," Annabeth muttered under her breath, probably thinking she was being quieter than that or she just didn't care.

Or being purposely loud enough to warn them in case Percy and Thalia started acting too worrisome.

The Americans were dutifully ignoring the whispers and looks. Harry felt bad for thinking this, but he was kind of glad that they showed up right when they did. Their appearance made people at least semi-forget that they thought he was a crazy lunatic of a liar. For the first time he wasn't the one they were whispering about.

Snape chose that moment to sweep into the room, waving a hand so directions appeared on the board. "Yes, yes," he drawled. "How exciting. We have some gossip to whisper about." He eyed the three Americans. "I will not tolerate _anything _less than the best. If you think you cannot do that, then I would suggest going back to your school in America." He sneered _America. _

The hairs on the back of Harry's neck stood on end_, _like there was a charge in the air.

"Today you are going to make the Draught of Endless Sleep. What does it do?"

Hermione's hand shot in the air so fast Harry was surprise her shoulder didn't dislocate. Annabeth stifled a giggle before flipping through the pages of her potions book. Okay, either his glasses were seriously dirty or he couldn't read a word in that book.

As he cleaned his glasses, Snape made an unimpressed noise at the back of his throat.

"No one did the reading?" He said. "No one knows what the Draught of Endless Sleep does?"

"Puts someone in an endless sleep maybe," Harry heard someone—sounded like Percy—grumble.

Harry put his glasses back on and looked at Annabeth's textbook. No, he was right, he couldn't read a word of it. _It was in a different language_.

Snape shook his head. "The Draught of Endless Sleep, when administered, puts the drinker in a sleep that never ends. They are plagued my constant nightmares until their body wastes away. It takes ten times longer for a person to die than it would normally take."

Hermione lowered her hand as soon as Snape started talking, a frown on her face and disappointment in her eyes. Annabeth murmured something to her that actually made her crack a smile. Which was very surprising because when Hermione was disappointed about something academically nothing could make her smile (not even Ron, but don't tell him that).

"You have until the end of class to complete this potion," Snape said. "Starting now."

It took ten minute for a cauldron to explode. Surprisingly enough, despite what Annabeth said, it was Neville's (not so surprising, actually) that exploded—sending a cloud of purple fog billowing over and filling the room.

The fog burned his nose and throat, his eyes watered. His eyelids felt heavy and he started swaying. Ron's head was dropping, getting closer to his desk as his eyes closed. Shapes appeared the purple fog, darker than the pastel colour. A dark purple, twisting the fog into the shapes of big shaggy dogs and a skeleton with a wand pointed at a prone figure.

Snape muttered a spell and the fog disappeared with a whoosh!

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor. For adding the unicorn hairs before the moonlace and making the draught unstable." Snape sneered at the quivering Neville. The poor boy looked as if he'd seen a ghost. In fact, a lot of people looked as if they'd faced a boggart without being able to say _Ridikulus._

Ron grabbed his shoulders. "Spiders!" He whispered hoarsely. "Bloody spiders. Bigger than Aragog's kids!"

Harry glanced at Hermione to see her shaking her head then nodding when she caught him looking. She was all right. Good. He could deal with Ron's fear of spiders, having dealt with it for four years already and had found the perfect way to help him out. Hermione was a bit more mysterious in the fact, it didn't help that he saw her less than he saw Ron.

By some strange will, he glanced at the Americans as well, only to be shocked to find Percy hunched over with his face in his hands, fingers tangled in his hair as his nails dug into his scalp. Thalia was looking positively green and horrified, as if she'd seen her own death and didn't like how she was leaving his world. Annabeth had tears in her eyes that didn't fall, her face a ghastly white that made her eyes seem washed-out.

Annabeth reached for Percy and ran her own fingers through his hair, whispering soothing things. Thalia shook her head like a dog who just got out of the water or the Whomping Willow near the end of the fall when it shed the rest of its leaves before taking deep breaths.

Snape eyed them all with contempt. "It seems Longbottom's mishap has caused the air to be contaminated to the point no spell can fix it, I will release you early. I want the exact reasons why unicorn hairs cannot be added before the moonlace. And what exactly happened as a result, the permeation of the fog into the surround area and why spells will not work. Dismissed."

Percy shot out of the room like he was riding the wind, actually leaving his things behind.

Annabeth sighted and grabbed them for him. "Come on, Thalia," she said quietly. "Let's find him before he doesn't something stupid."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "He _always _does something stupid," she said, but she followed along without another word against it. "We'll see you next class," she told Harry (Hermione was trying to get Ron to let go of the desk). "We'll find our way. The paintings talk, right?"

"Yeah," was all he could say.

She nodded then left with Annabeth, leaving them behind and more than a little confused and slightly concerned.

"Percy had a bigger reaction than I thought he would," Hermione admitted. She finally peeled Ron's fingers from around the edge of the desk. "I mean, I thought he would be affected. Just not that bad."

"They were all affected more than I thought," Ron said, rubbing his fingers. "What do you think's happen to them?"

Harry frowned, pressing his lips together. "That's a really good question, Ron." He glanced at them. "A _really_ good question."


	3. Chapter 3

Kind of a short chapter. Okay. A few more chapters until Luke. I have Luke's entrance scene written up (first thing I wrote actually) so we all know we're going to get to it. Promise. Thank you all for your support on this story!

* * *

Little Lion Man

Mikkal

* * *

_It was not your fault but mine_

_and it was your heart on the line._

_I really messed it up this time._

_Didn't I, my dear?_

* * *

**5.**

Thalia found Percy before Annabeth did, surprisingly enough. He wasn't at the lakeshore like they collectively thought he would be (which is where Annabeth went), instead he was back in the commons, sitting in front of the fire. No one else was there, so the two of them were alone.

"You know," Thalia said. "It's not a weakness to fear something."

"I never said it was," Percy snapped.

She sighed and sat on the floor next to him, pulling out her wand to twirl between her fingers. "I never said you said it was," she said with a smirk. "I'm just saying. You ran out of that room like my father himself was on your tail." For once there was no thunder. Percy didn't react, just stared moodily at the fire. "Honestly, though, if you keep freaking out over every little thing that has to do with this war, I'm going to withdraw from the Hunters and make myself the child of the prophecy."

Percy flinched at that and looked at her with wide eyes. "_What_?" He all but screeched.

She smirked. "There we go. And here I thought you were ignoring me."

"Shut up, Pinecone Face," Percy growled, but the straight lines in his shoulders relaxed a little. He sighed and ran a hand down his face. "It's not that. In that smoke…Thalia, what did you see?"

Thalia leaned back on her elbows. "I saw a lot of things. My brother—."

"I didn't know you had a brother," Percy interrupted.

"I _don't,_" She said quietly. "Not anymore. But I saw my brother. I saw Luke. I saw Annabeth, Grover, and Luke all dying all those years ago because I was too slow." She glanced at him. "I saw you, breaking down under all this stress."

She saw Percy glanced at her from the corner of her eye. He sighed and leaned closer to the fire.

"Did we see our fears and worries or did we see the future?" He asked

"Fears and worries," Thalia stated with no hesitation. "You're not going to let this war get to you, no matter what I say. It's not in your nature."

Percy smirked. "Remember when you use to hate me?"

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't _hate _you, Kelp head. I was just…wary."

Too much had changed, she was still trying to not look at Annabeth and see the little seven year old she and Luke found in the alley trying to fend off monsters with a hammer.

Grover with his searcher's license (even if it was on the rocks) and Juniper by his side.

The thing that hit the most, though, was Luke and how he turned so bitter. How he and Percy were a lot closer than Thalia ever thought Luke would ever get to a person, even her.

Her ultimate question was: Even if Luke was bitter after everything, how could he still go to the other side when he had Percy Jackson right there next to him?

"What did you see, Percy?" Thalia asked, shaking her head to rid it of her depressing thoughts. She glanced at the clock to see they had ten minutes to get to their next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts with that Umbridge teacher Chiron warned them about.

"My mom," he said quietly. "From when I first came to camp." Oh, she'd heard of that story. The Minotaur and Sally Jackson's abduction a few years ago. "Annabeth collapsing under Ouranos. Grover trapped with Polyphemus as a satyr, not his fake Cyclops lady. Camp Half-Blood in flames." He paused for a really long time, making her think he was finished with his list, and then he said, "Luke."

And that's all he had to say.

"That stupid potion," he grumbled. "Gods, I feel so bad for saying this, but stupid Neville. Why'd he have to screw up that_ one?"_

Thalia chuckled and stood up, poking Percy in the head and sending a shock into his system. He yelped, his hair standing on end. He glared at her as he tried to flatten his hair. An impossible task, his hair always looked as if he just came back from the beach.

"C'mon," she said. "I really don't want to deal with Umbridge. She seems like a horrible person."

Annabeth burst into the commons, her hair disarray (more so than usual. After all, she did have curly hair and didn't seem to own a brush). "You found him?" She exclaimed. "Gods, Thalia, you could've told me. I would really like to be told stuff like this so I'm not surprised to find you guys ripping each other into shreds."

Percy slung an arm over her shoulders, pulling her close against his side. "Aw, Wise Girl, I didn't know you cared so much!"

She scowled and jabbed him in the ribs, making him yelp. "I don't," she said, but there was laughter in her eyes.

He pouted and rubbed his side. "What is it with people being so mean to me today?" He whined childishly.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Because you're a Kelp Head," she said simply. She wrapped her arms around Annabeth's shoulders on her other side so they were three abreast.

They walked in the general direction of the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, Annabeth leading the way since her talk with Hermione on their way to Potions mostly consisted of classes and where they usually where (apparently some classrooms moved).

"When we talk to Dumbledore we should probably mention telling Harry Potter a few things about us," Percy said suddenly.

Annabeth stared at him. "_What?"_

"His archenemy is with our enemy," he pointed out. "And I happen to think Kronos is a little worse than their Dark Lord. Harry needs to know what he's getting into." He glanced down at his shoes. "The less you know the harder it is to actually do anything," he muttered. "I know that from experience."

In fact, he was still experiencing, Thalia thought. She kind of forgot they hadn't told him the Great Prophecy yet.

And now she was wondering if that was even a good idea anymore. Not knowing just added to the worrying amount of stress already on Percy's shoulders.

"I'm not saying tell him everything," Percy said. "Not our prophecy or anything, just exactly who Voldemort has mixed himself up with and Luke's possible role."

"Which is?" Thalia asked sarcastically. "Please, Percy, if you've figured it out then don't hold back."

He glared at her then glanced away, muttering something probably unpleasant under his breath as he fiddled with the knot of his red and gold Gryffindor tie. Annabeth patted his side (the only place she could reach at the moment).

For a while she thought Gryffindor was a good match for all of them. She knew a lot of brave people, but none so more than Annabeth and Percy (and Grover, to be honest).

Then she read that stupid book Annabeth had shoved into her hands this morning. It was short and sweet (and in Greek), just a small explanation of Hogwarts and the Houses. In fact, it was called _Hogwarts and the Houses. _

Annabeth was suited more for Ravenclaw, a House most children of Athena would be sorted into—intelligence, knowledge, and wit. Thalia decided she was Slytherin, despite the stigma against it; ambition, cunning, and resourcefulness. And Percy was Hufflepuff; loyalty, patience, fair play, and hard work.

They obviously weren't perfect matches. Annabeth was all about hard work compared to Percy. Both Annabeth and Percy were so resourceful it was scary. And Thalia was all about wit. And none of them were stars in the patience category, but Percy was that least of all.

Thalia knew she convinced the talking hat to put her Gryffindor, she assumed Annabeth and Percy did the same thing. They never really discussed it.

She ruffled Percy's hair and gave him a small smile in apology, not really wanting to voice it out loud. She knew she'd hurt him with her sarcasm at that one wrong moment (okay, she's done that several times, but this time was the one she was apologizing for).

They wandered a little bit, passing wizards and witches as their class was dismissed at the normal time due to potion-free annoyances. She twirled a finger and thought about the Mist and about the fact that the three demigods were just normal students, no need to look at them.

"Should we tell them about…" Annabeth trailed off, biting her lip with a sad look on her face. There was rarely a time when Annabeth was unsure about her words. Most of the time the situation would involve death if she said the wrong thing. This was not one of those times so dread filled Thalia's stomach at the implications.

Percy glanced at her. "Tell them about what?"

"Luke…and you," she said. "You're compromised, in a way. We all are, but you mostly."

Percy pressed his lips together. "If we have to."

"He's going to find out a way he get on Hogwarts grounds," Thalia pointed out. "He's not stupid. And once he does. We all know what's going to happen."

The same thing that happened on Mount Tam no too long ago. Luke tricked Annabeth into "saving" him by taking the literal sky from him. Artemis took the sky from Annabeth. Percy took the sky from Artemis. Atlas was tricked into taking the sky back.

In that brief moment of silence after Atlas shouted his curses of retaking his burden the four demigods could only star at each other. Luke with Backbiter pointed at Thalia's chest, Annabeth with her dagger out, Thalia with her spear aiming for Luke's neck. And Percy, Percy standing there, bloody and sweaty, breathing hard, and whispering pleads for Luke to just _stop. Please, stop this._

That was the first time Thalia fully realized how much she actually missed. And now she couldn't stop thinking about it.

Luke had pulled his sword away from Annabeth and lunged for Percy. Thalia acted out of reflex and constraint and swept her spear in an arc to smack him in the chest. Luke had stumbled back in pain and shock, tipping right over the edge and into the water below.

She could still hear Percy's desperately screaming Luke's name and almost going over the edge with him.

"Yeah, we all lose our heads," Percy muttered. "Awesome. Which is why we should tell Harry and company just a little bit about ourselves and the enemy."

Annabeth sighed. "Fair enough," she finally said. "We'll mention it to Dumbledore tonight. For now, though, I think this is DADA."

Thalia groaned. Great.


End file.
